LUMPENPROLETARIAT Today on free speech radio, we heard coverage of the People’s Climate March 2017 in Washington, D.C. as well as the conference at Howard University. During the extended broadcast coverage Naomi Klein, was one of the conference speakers. She’s the Canadian author, social activist, and filmmaker, known for her political analyses and criticism of corporate globalisation and of capitalism (or capitalist modes of production); and she’s perhaps the world’s most famous, or influential, intellectual without a degree. (She was followed by Professor Bob Bullard, who obviously does have a degree; but that’s neither here nor there.) Naomi Klein is always a captivating speaker, very charismatic. Even when one doesn’t agree with her completely, one still pays attention. In speaking about government spending to address human-induced climate change, Klein invoked raising taxes, which means she’s unaware of modern monetary theory (MMT). We must spread the word, and expand our understanding of government spending and how our money system actually works. As one heterodox economist, named by Politico one of the most influential people, Dr. Stephanie Kelton reminds us that taxes don’t pay for anything. So, it’s a actually a myth that taxes pay for federal spending.

Large political actions, such as the People’s Climate Movement 2017 in Washington, D.C. as well as other locations across the nation (or last week’s March for Science), help us take the pulse of the nation and find where we can make connections and gain new insights from one another to overcome the power of the capitalist ruling classes, which are bent on putting profits over people, even putting profits over the planet. As Naomi Klein noted in here speech, we can’t meaningfully confront the challenge of human-induced climate change without fundamentally challenging the logic of neoliberal capitalism. In Washington, D.C., tens of thousands of Americans will encircle the White House and engage in a mass sit-in to protest the climate change denialism of the Trump administration. Listen (and/or download) here. [1]

[pre-recorded interview from the field by Amy Goodman, interview with Senator Sheldon(sp?) from Rhode Island]

[Democracy Now! hosts Amy Goodman and Nermeen Shaikh speak with participants of the march, who will encircle the White House and engage in a mass sit-in to protest the climate change denialism of the Trump adminstration]